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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6F-01059

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the First Minister whether the Medication Assisted Treatment Standards have been fully embedded across Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01041

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting Historic Environment Scotland to deliver its inspection programme, and related remedial works, on the condition of, and impact of climate change on, heritage sites.

Question reference: S6O-00929

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is targeting investment to improve services for people with problem alcohol use.

Question reference: S6W-06604

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 11 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support increased use of online courts.

The Scottish Government has established a justice recovery fund of £53.2m in the next financial year to be allocated to recovery, renewal and transformation activity across the justice system as we emerge from the pandemic.

This includes funding of £26.5m to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service to maintain enhanced court capacity and remote jury centres. In addition, we have allocated a further £4.2m to the SCTS resource budget, a 3.5% increase.

We have already previously committed an additional £50m in 2021-22 to support our ‘Recover, Renew, Transform’ programme for the Criminal Justice System – which has included setting up 16 additional solemn and summary courts from September.

The additional funds have and continue to be used in a variety of ways to increase capacity across the justice system, including: recruitment of additional staff; greater use of digital tools and improved support for victims and witnesses.

At present the programme includes; the operation of remote jury centres for the conduct of High Court and Sheriff and jury trials; fully virtual summary trials; virtual custody courts; changes to summary criminal process and; community justice and preventing offending.

In terms of civil business, the Scottish Civil Justice Council (SCJC) is the body that is tasked with modernising the civil justice system in Scotland. It is ultimately for the council to decide how civil court proceedings should proceed. SCJC has consulted on proposed new court rules concerning the mode of attendance in civil proceedings. These fall within the SCJC’s powers and functions under the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Act 2013.

The Scottish Government is actively working with all justice partners including the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and SCJC to review how civil business can best be conducted. We have appointed a contractor to undertake a remote hearing evaluation project to provide analysis of the changes to civil justice processes and procedures flowing from the pandemic response, with a particular focus on the adoption of ‘virtual hearings’. SCTS has fed into that process and is partly funding it. The primary aim of the research is to provide evidence to determine the value of the measures adopted by the Courts and Tribunals during the pandemic and if these measures need to be adapted or improved in any way. The research should be completed towards the end of 2022.

Within the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill, the Scottish Government has brought forward proposals to enable longer extension of provisions which suspend the requirement to physically attend a court or tribunal. The provisions seek to retain the ability for any participant in either criminal or civil proceedings to take part in any proceedings by way of live visual (television) or audio (telephone) link from any location.

In addition, I would refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06603 on 28 February 2022. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-06907

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 11 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to improve the prospects and resilience of Scotland’s seabird populations, in light of them reportedly being internationally important but in decline.

The Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy aims to optimise the conservation prospects of seabirds in Scotland through effective management of existing and emerging threats. We plan to consult on the Strategy in summer 2022.

In February 2022 two new marine special protection areas (SPAs) were designated in Orkney. The sites in Scapa Flow and North Orkney have been designated to protect rare and vulnerable migratory birds.

Question reference: S6W-06904

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider developing and funding a rolling programme of island restoration, invasive species management and biosecurity across Scotland’s islands in order to build resilience in the seabird populations, in light of them reportedly being internationally important but in decline.

The Scottish Government is aware of the impact that invasive species can have on seabird populations. We are developing the Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy, which aims to optimise the conservation prospects of seabirds in Scotland through effective management of existing and emerging threats. We plan to consult on the Strategy in summer 2022.

The Scottish Government sits on the working group for the RSPB led UK Seabird Island Biosecurity Programme. This programme follows on from the Biosecurity for LIFE programme where invasive rats that were negatively impacting seabird populations were successfully removed from the Shiant isles. Through the working group RSPB are identifying funding opportunities for the programme.

Question reference: S6W-06905

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of the reported 49% decline in the index of breeding seabirds in Scotland since the 1980s, what assessment it has made of the impact of the reported increased mortality of seabirds recorded along the North Sea coasts in autumn 2021.

The Scottish Government has been working with other organisations across the UK, including UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Sea Mammal Research Unit and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science to investigate the unusually large numbers of emaciated and dead seabirds that were found along the North Sea coasts in autumn 2021.

Due to the long life spans of many seabird species, the full impacts of the increased mortality in 2021 may not be evident for a number of years. However, long term monitoring of populations and individual survival at some seabird colonies may provide an indication of the impacts of the recent mortality event, although these data will only become available from the autumn of 2022.

Question reference: S6W-06906

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has undertaken or is aware of on the likely causes of the reported increased seabird mortality recorded along the North Sea coasts in Autumn 2021.

The Scottish Government is aware of reports of unusually large numbers of emaciated and dead seabirds that were found along the North Sea costs in autumn 2021 and have been working to establish the potential causes. We have a number of dead seabird, fish, plankton and water samples undergoing analysis with the aim of identifying potential causes for the mortality event. The Scottish Government has been working closely with the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Sea Mammal Research Unit and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and the findings of these investigations will be published in due course.

Question reference: S6W-06319

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether KPMG has been asked to conduct a review of the implementation of the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards, and, if so, how much KPMG will be paid to conduct the review; what the full remit will be, and whether the heads of the (a) alcohol and drug partnerships and (b) health and social care partnerships were consulted.

Question reference: S6W-06318

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the ministerial statement by the Minister for Drugs Policy on 30 November 2021, how many of the additional 225 residential rehabilitation beds that were announced it plans to allocate to 15- to 24-year-olds experiencing drug harms.

Over the course of this parliament the Scottish Government has committed £100 million to support further investment in residential rehabilitation and associated aftercare. We aim to increase the number of publicly funded placements by more than 300 per cent over the five years of the programme so that, by 2026, at least 1,000 people every year are publicly funded for their rehab placement.

In order to facilitate this increase we are working to increase capacity by 50% which is an increase from 425 beds to 650 beds. As well as increasing funding to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships allocated for residential rehab and developing more standardised commissioning processes we have made national investment in expanding capacity through the Recovery Fund.

The Scottish Government has provided the funding needed to increase capacity for residential rehab, however we cannot allocate beds to any specific individual or age group. This is the responsibility of Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and residential rehabilitation providers, who have the necessary expertise for deciding referrals, assessments of suitability and admissions to their facilities on a case by case basis.

We have set up a multi-agency working group focused specifically on improving services for young people. This group will engage with a range of young people to better understand their alcohol/drug use and their preferences for support, and their work will shape how we improve the provision and access to age appropriate treatment and support services in Scotland.